Tom McCabe’s Classroom Activities
- We begin with a detailed series of activities for generating classroom-wide writing.
- Followed by strategies for class-wide revising.
- I’ve also included: How to Tell Stories with Your Students With Two Scripts and a Puppet Show
- Last, a brief introduction to PaintBox Theatre
Developing Young Writers - Part One
Ask a roomful of people, “How many people here have ever sat in front of a piece of paper and not known what to write?” Nearly every person will raise a hand. I have devoted many years to figuring it out strategies to support developing writers. In these pages, you’ll find simple suggestions and activities to writing and a pattern to follow for successful revisions and rewrites.
Creating Stories for Writing -
a simple three-step process.
The teacher keeps the list of the board and each student writes the list on a piece of paper. Make a list. This activity is designed so that no one will fail. If a child falls behind, can’t spell a word or gets lost in the lesson, the list is always on the board waiting to be copied. NOTE: If you are working with kindergarteners, you keep the list on the board and they participate out loud.
Step 1: Start with a Character and Look for a Problem:
At the top of the list put the word "person," or "animal." After a while you might choose collective nouns like “people,” “animals,” “a family,” “a herd,” “a flock,” or “your class.” When working alone, just use a piece of paper. If you are focusing on personal writing put the word “I” on the top of the list.
Now, select a problem. Any problem will do. The tiniest problems seem to work best. The character's solution to a problem results in a story. Write the problem on the list below the character(s) and we have completed Step One.
Suggested Activity: "A Box O' Problems!"
Every problem in your class is a story waiting to be built. Does a line ever form in front of your desk, students reporting in about all of the problems they have been experiencing? These are story starters. Write each problem on a slip of paper and save them in a small box or a paper bag. When it’s time for writing, just draw out a problem.
Suggested Activity: The Fabulous Fable Factory
Ask your students to identify problems, behaviors and issues that impact your community. Community can mean the library, the school, or the neighborhood. The problems might include pushing and shoving, sharing, etc. Select one of these issues and create a modern fable. You might want to select animals as your characters. Now, phrase the problem as a moral. For example: if the problem is “not sharing;” the moral might be “friendship and community depends on sharing.” Build an original fable addressing a very real issue within your community.
Suggested Activity: Look to your Favorite Writers for Problems
What is the central problem in a story you are currently reading? Every story has a problem.
Step 2: Ask Your Imagination Questions.
The only rule for Step Two is that when asking your imagination questions, you must begin each question with a question word. The question words are
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and Which.
Why Use Question Words?
First, when you don't use question words, all of your answers will be “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” Try it. Ask a question without using a question word. See what I mean?
Second, question words make imaginations work harder. When you ask an open-ended question, who knows where the story will take you?
NO ONE FAILS. A Tip for Helping Students Who Get Stuck:
If a student can't answer the question you pose; simply switch the question to a color, a shape or a number. What color is the character's hair? How many times has this happened before? How tall is the character? Any child can answer a question related to color, shape or number.
Tip: For overactive imaginations and inappropriate responses:
When a student gives you a wild or inappropriate answer, don't be frustrated. Simply say the words, "Keep it simple." Give the child a second to consider and he or she will automatically change the answer.
A Question Asking Tip:
Start with “where.” Why? Children never seem to include the locale in a story. When you do a “where” you want a common everyday place – school, the park, a bedroom.
Two tips for developing the “Where” of a story.
Write in a circle: Once you have established where the character is, ask students to give you four details, something the character can see to the right, the left, in front and behind. Add each of these to the list and now the reader is going to be right in the middle. If you want to experiment, have the students use each of the senses.
Get the WHERE to six inches. If a child says they are in a classroom, keep asking where. They might say at a desk. Then the last desk. Then the last desk in the first row. Get as specific as you like. Every detail will augment their writing.
Your initial questions should sketch out the picture. Find out about the character(s). Ask anything you want. Every detail fits. Why? Details always fit. They are the fabric of the story. Some suggestions: Where is the character as the story opens? What is the weather like? What is the person doing? What time of day is it? The key is to make your answers as specific as possible.
Tip: For those working with very small children:
Focus your story on color, shape and number. In fact, for the youngest children, the simplest form of story: “There and Back” always works well. There and Back is a story of a trip there and back. With this sort of a story a problem isn’t even necessary. The problem is just getting there and back. In fact, some stories are just about getting there. Consider “Make Way for Ducklings.”
When you run out of questions decide how the character feels.
How does he or she feel right now about this problem? Any feeling word will do. The feeling word will tell you where the story is going.
Please ban the following feeling word: Good, Bad, Happy, Unhappy Sad, Mad, or Nice: Why? They are boring, tired and over-used.
Feeling words are key. Most people, even adults, lack the vocabulary to articulate how they feel.
Activity: Two Vocabulary Builders
The Word Wall:
Have students brainstorm an entire list of feeling words. Post them. Every time a character uses a feeling word, cross it off and encourage children to replace it. If you run out of feeling words, it is time to break out the Thesaurus, or…
Feeling Patrol:
Add Feeling Patrol to your list of daily classroom jobs. When you come upon a new feeling word in a story or a lesson, the student on Feeling Patrol is charged with looking up the spelling of the word and getting a sense of the word’s meaning. The child then adds the new word to the word wall. Maybe at the beginning of your next read-aloud, the child is given a moment to share his or her findings.
Once you have the feeling, solve the problem.
To solve the problem, ask these three questions at least three times.
- What does the character do to solve the problem?
- What happens?
- How does the character feel?
The Ending?
The moment you need the story to end simply ask, “What do they do to work it out?” The story will end at once.
Step 3: Tell it; Then Write It
Have everyone put down their pencils. On the count of three, have everyone tell the story out loud. They all speak. No one needs to be shy, everyone is speaking. Walk about the room and make sure they are all participating. As they tell their stories, they are creating their first draft.
Tip: Helping Young or Struggling Students
If you are working with younger children or language impaired students, have them repeat the list of words along with you as a way to warm up and then have them all tell it out loud. This is an oral first draft. It always works. Don’t have them read the list, tell it like a story. If children are shy about this, you can prompt them by having everyone begin, “Once upon a time…” If they have trouble with this, you tell the story leaving the written words on the board out. As you tell the story point at the words when they come up and have the children say the words out loud.
A Tip for Working with reluctant or challenged students:
As everyone is telling their story, walk about the class. Make sure everyone is trying it. If you come across a student who is struggling, "scaffold" with them. To scaffold means to tell the story omitting the list words and allowing the students to fill in these words. Go through the first three or four ideas in the list and then point at a list word. Ask the students to say the word out loud. Now ask them to make a sentence featuring that word. Now, move onto the next word or phrase. Usually this serves as a jump-start and the child takes up the telling of the tale.
A Tip for Making Each Version Unique:
Right now, all of the stories are the same. To stimulate creativity and to teach children about the shape of stories, have the students draw a circle around one of the ideas in the list; any idea will do. Now, have them tell the story out loud, except this time start with whatever they circled and jump around the list using up ideas as they wish. Use the count of three to get them started. This allows the children to develop their own versions of the tale. It also proves that a story doesn't have a specific shape, instead, it is up to the author to choose the shape of a story.
Writing the First Draft
First Sentences:
Do your students always seem to start the same way?
Ban the following words as the first word of the first sentence for any piece of writing:
Hi, Hello, Greetings, One, Once, There, But, And, Because
I
Want to raise the bar a little more?
Ban the other pronouns as the first word of a first sentence: I, You, He, She, It, We, They.
Why ban words?
When you ban these words, your children will feel quite lost. In fact, I bet that nearly every piece of writing you receive from children begins with one of those words.
Tip for a child who can’t seem to come up with a first sentence:
Simply have the child randomly circle any idea on the list and make a sentence out of it.
Tip for using literature to explore story beginnings:
Have your students bring in favorite books and read the first sentence aloud to the class. The key to a great first sentence is to make the reader want to read the second sentence. The sentence doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to have a lot of information. Just make the audience curious.
From now on, whenever you begin a new read-aloud, stop and reread the first sentence. Take a second to examine it. Teach your children to always consider that first sentence. There are myriad ways to begin a tale.
Endings
Please ban the following ending as last lines of a piece of writing.
“…and they lived happily ever after.” “The End.” “It was all just a dream.”
“…and he woke up.” or …
Questions about endings often come up. How is writing supposed to end? Don’t I need a big finish?
Look at the way favorite writers end their writing. Some stories end with the author saying what he or she has learned. Some end with a feeling, a hope or a plan. Most stories end rather simply. Remember, as soon as you have a solution to the problem, you are ready for the ending.
Activity - Creating a Picture Book:
This is a continuation of the story building activity, so you’ll begin with a list of details for the story already on the board.
- Ingredients: For each child, you’ll need a piece of copy paper, two slips of paper for sentences and some thin markers, a large piece of colored paper on which you can fit the picture and the sentence strip.
- Timing: This seems to work best spread out over a couple of days.
Day 1: On the board have enough details so that you have one for every child. Number the list. Assign one item on the list to each person in the class along with the item’s number. Have each student write at least one sentence that relates to the item on a slip of paper or a piece of writing paper. You may want to finish this session with each child
Day 2: Have each child draw a picture about the item on a piece of copy paper (wider than it is tall).
While the children are drawing, go about the room and help each child individually edit their sentence. When a sentence is perfect give the child a slip of paper and have them copy the sentence onto the paper.
When the copied sentence is done, have the child trace over the sentence with a thin black marker.
The children can glue the pictures and the sentences onto the larger colored pieces of paper and you have the text of a picture book.
You can create the title page and have all of the authors sign it.
Note: The drawing allows you time to edit. Encourage students to sketch with pencil and then add in colors. Encourage them to add lots of detail to the picture. All of this will keep them busy while you are working on editing and helping struggling students.
As a conclusion, you can display the book page by page outside your classroom for all to read and appreciate.
Developing Young Writers - Part Two -
Revising
A Basic Reality:
Teachers don’t have enough time to personally edit every child’s writing. Here is an approach that can be done class-wide that can teach each student the basics of rewriting.
Another Reality:
When students write a first draft, they secretly believe that if they write it neatly, they are going to be able to hand it in as the final draft. Doubt this? Ask any student to make a revision on their rough draft. Notice how carefully they erase. If you ask them to completely rewrite one of the sentences. They’ll all but refuse. Why? Because they know that if they make a mess of the rough draft, they won’t get to hand it in.
Tip: Creating an “Editable” Rough Draft:
All drafts should be written on every other line with wide margins all the way round.
My Dream:
To have students, especially reluctant writers, turn their rough drafts into works of abstract art.
Suggested Activity - Editing with Colored Pens:
If each child has a half-dozen colored pens, each color can represent a different element of revision: Banned Words, First Words in Sentences, Dialogue, Adjectives. Before they show you their drafts, have them do a revision using different colored pens with arrows to new writing. No erasing just lots of cross-outs, they are creating a work of abstract art. Making such a mess has particular attraction to young boys who are struggling with their writing. I say to them, “When you finish editing a first draft, you should be the only person on the planet who can read it. Have fun and make a mess.”
For the teacher, when looking at a revision, simply look for all of the colors. If all of the colors are not on the page, the student still has editing to do.
A List of Editing Steps
They should edit in the following order. When editing as a group I like to list them on the board one at a time. As the list progresses, the difficulty grows.
NOTE: I am not saying that these limits / rules will make every student a wonderful writer. However, if you have them follow them, your student’s writing will be reasonable and well above average.
Sentences begin with capital and end with punctuation.
Check the very first word of the very first sentence. The first sentence should
not begin with One, Once, There, Hi or I.
Remove the words: Then, There, So and And. (I usually allow one “and” in a
piece of writing.)
Make sure every sentence begins with a different word.
Count the number of words in each sentence and list the numbers in the
margin.
No sentences should be longer than your age. If they are, edit. (See Following
Note)
Every sentence has a different number of words in it.
In any paragraph, do not repeat words except for articles and conjunctions.
Tip: Ban the following words from all writing.
There, Then, So, and And (OK, you can have one “And.”) Why?
“There” is a useless word. Have your students cross out every “there” and rewrite the sentence.
For Example:
There is a dog.
If you take away the word “there,” the writer has to rewrite the sentence. The writer will end up with a
better sentence.
My dog is brown.
The words “Then,” “So,” or “And” lead to incredibly long sentences.
Tip / Rule: Sentences should be no longer than your age.
Students believe that the longer the sentence the better the writing. I often see sentences of 20 words or more.
Exception for More Able Writers: Some students are able to write sentences longer than their age. They should clear this with you. A simple give away that a student is capable of writing longer sentences is that their longer sentences begin with a preposition.
Tip / Rule: Don’t repeat words.
This is a final last step. In any paragraph don’t repeat any nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.
Additional Thoughts and Suggestions
Tip: When Writing Non-Fiction and Reports, Don’t Waste Details.
When writing a report or fiction, every detail becomes its own sentence. In a report, every fact is a sentence.
Tip: Too Much Dialogue?
Kids love to go on and on with dialogue. Soooooooooo…
Write a random number on the board and put it in quotes.
“17”
The rule for the day is that you can only have 17 words in dialogue today.
Activity: Book Binding and Publishing
To bind a pile of papers into a book, all it takes is:
- A pile of paper
- A hole-punch
- A rubber band and a stick. (I prefer chop sticks.)
How?
- Stack the paper so it is even.
- On the side where you want the binding to go, punch two holes approximately one third and two thirds of the way along the side.
- Stretch the rubber band underneath the pile of paper with one end of the rubber band coming up through the hole.
- Push the end of the stick through the loop capturing it and slide the other end of the rubber band through the other hole.
- Slide the other end of the chop stick through the hole and you have a bound book.
Children can do this on their own with a little guidance.
How to Tell Stories with Your Students
plus Two Scripts and a Puppet Show
Dear Teachers,
I have a particular love of theatre. Yet when I have asked teachers about theatre sorts of things they do in their classrooms, I heard the same frustrations over and over: costumes and scenery. I also spoke to teachers of younger folks who have a desire to “put on a show” for parents but are overwhelmed by the task. Here is your solution.
As I talk through the process of putting together the Ants and the Grasshopper, see it as a way for your whole class to put together a program for families.
If you want to do this, then you will be the narrator. Print out the script, sit at the side of the “stage” and read the script out loud. The children will sit on the floor or the edge of the stage and do all of the sounds and movements as a group.
The parents will think you show may be the cutest thing they have ever seen.
In the process of putting the show together, you will be working on critical thinking, and listening skills through the study of fables and narrative. You will also be building community and cooperation in your classroom.
All this without a need for scenery or costumes.
If you try this out with a new story, email me and let me know all the details.
The Ants and the Grasshopper
The Basic Fable:
Ants worked really hard.
A grasshopper only played the fiddle.
The weather got cold.
The ants said, “You should go home now.”
The grasshopper said, “I never built a house, I played the fiddle.”
The ants said, “You’re going to freeze.”
The Moral: Work or Freeze! (Don’t worry. We fixed it.)
Re-Interpretation
I read this to a roomful of children. They were horrified. I asked them why.
One child said, “They could help him.
I asked, “How?”
Another child said, “They could build him a house.”
“When?”
“Saturday.”
"Saturday?”
They all thought and then a child answered, “That must be ant day off.”
“What would the Grasshopper do?”
“He’d play the fiddle.”
“What would the Ants do?”
“They could dance!”
Yes! Now we had a much different story, a story we thought through, a story that’s “fair.”
I wanted this to be a story we all could tell and share.
NOTE: The process I am about to describe can be applied
to almost any simple story
to turn it into an audience participation tale.
To make the story fun I decided it needed at least 5 different sounds/gestures that we all could make during the telling.
Sounds /Gestures
To start with the Grasshopper plays the fiddle. We had one sound/gesture.
I asked the children what sort of work ants do. We came up with a long list. In the
end, we picked three actions: to dig, to pull, and to pile.
I asked them what people do when they hear a fiddle and someone responded – they dance!
We had five actions: to dig, to pull, to pile, to play the fiddle and to dance.
The students and I went through each action, one at a time. I asked for volunteers who can show the class a particular action "from their middles on up.”
NOTE: This is key as most young children immediately want to jump to their feet. “From their middles on up” will keep everyone seated.
Once someone suggested a gesture, we all practiced it.
For each action or gesture, have another child pick a complimentary sound or word.
If you can't come up with a unique sound, use the verb. So, if you are doing digging, the children might make a shovel gesture and say, “Dig,” each time they make the gesture.
When you have your sounds and actions, have everyone practice. A key is to have them repeat each Sound / Gesture three times. So that the Ants dig, dig, dig. The little packets of three makes things much more fun and a lot easier.
On your own go through the story and rearrange it so that each sound/action is used at least three times during the telling. With a couple of quick practices, you’re done.
I have done this approach with fables, picture book stories, nature lessons, moments from history…. It always works. You don’t have to limit it to the formula of five actions in three places but I’d say that is the minimum.
Invite parents. Sit the children on the floor facing the parents. You sit at the side and read this script off of a clip board. No one will look at you. You’re just the narrator.
Script: The Ants and The Grasshopper - A Script with Prompts
TEACHER: Once upon a time, there were ants and do ants work hard. First they...
CHILDREN: Dig (gesture), Dig (gesture) Dig (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they...
CHILDREN: Pull (gesture), Pull (Gesture) Pull (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they...
CHILDREN: Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture)
TEACHER: But if that is all you ever do, life gets…
CHILDREN: Boring.
TEACHER: One day they heard a strange sound
CHILDREN: (Children gesture as if playing a fiddle and hum a tune.)
NOTE: It can be any tune. I prefer an Irish ditty.
TEACHER: Over the hill came a grasshopper playing a fiddle.
CHILDREN: (Children gesture as if playing a fiddle and hum a tune.)
TEACHER: The ants listened. (They do.) TEACHER: The grasshopper played some more.
CHILDREN: (Children gesture as if playing a fiddle and hum a tune.)
TEACHER: Suddenly, for the first time ever, the ants began to dance.
CHILDREN: (The ants “dance.” It can be a little thing, arms out, no sound, as they sit.)
TEACHER: When the ants went back to work, they had a lot of energy. First, they’d…
CHILDREN: Dig (gesture), Dig (gesture) Dig (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they’d...
CHILDREN: Pull (gesture), Pull (Gesture) Pull (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they’d
CHILDREN: Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture)
TEACHER: Taking breaks to listen to the music.
CHILDREN: (The grasshopper plays.)
TEACHER: And they’d dance.
CHILDREN: (They dance.)
TEACHER: Then it got cold. And the fiddle music sounded strange.
CHILDREN: (The children or teacher do strange shivering fiddle bits)
TEACHER: Well, they couldn’t dance to that. They asked...
CHILDREN: What’s wrong?
TEACHER: The grasshopper said,
CHILD: It’s getting cold.
TEACHER: An ant said...
CHILD: You should go home.
TEACHER: The Grasshopper said...
CHILD: I don’t have a house I never built one. I played the fiddle.
TEACHER: Some of the ants said...
HALF OF THE CHILDREN: Let him freeze.
TEACHER: The others said...
THE OTHER HALF OF THE CHILDREN: But what about the dancing?
TEACHER: So, on Saturday morning,
CHILDREN: Ant Day Off!
TEACHER: They decided to build a house for the grasshopper. First, they’d...
CHILDREN: Dig (gesture), Dig (gesture) Dig (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they’d...
CHILDREN: Pull (gesture), Pull (Gesture) Pull (Gesture).
TEACHER: Then they’d
CHILDREN: Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture), Pile (Gesture)
TEACHER: When the house was done it had two rooms, one room for the grasshopper and one room for their...
ALL: Dancing floor!!!!!!!
TEACHER: Every night when they were done with their work, the grasshopper went to work. He played the fiddle.
CHILDREN: (They play the fiddle and hum the tune.)
TEACHER: And the ants would do some...
CHILDREN: Ant Dancing! (They do.)
TEACHER: And that’s a new fable about ...
ALL: The Ants and the Grasshopper.
TEACHER: Our new moral is…
CHILDREN: Help one another and remember to DANCE!
(Everyone does Ant Dancing)
This technique will work for any fable or folk tale. The rule of five is not a hard and fast rule. In the following version of “The Lion and the Mouse,” you’ll find seven sound/movements, each plugged into the story in five places. Pretty cool!
The Lion and the Mouse -
A Script with Prompts
BITS – This story includes seven sounds and actions in the telling of the story.
1. (Bit 1) Mouse Singing and Dancing – From a sitting position, a little something with a la la la and a small dancing gesture.
2. (Bit 2) Mouse Thinking or Nibbling – Everyone does little nibble sounds with paws raised.
3. (Bit 3) Mouse Freezing in Fear – Everyone strikes a frozen sitting pose.
4. (Bit 4) Lion Roaring – a roar with a claw gesture
5. (Bit 5) Hunter’s Horns – Everyone makes a bugle sort of sound and holds their hands up like they are playing a trumpet.
6. (Bit 6) Stampede! – Everyone slaps their thighs vigorously.
7. (Bit 7) Net Breaking – Everyone pops hands open and closed as they repeat the word. “Bing” three times.
The Lion and the Mouse Script: (All of the text is read by the narrator)
Narrator: A Mouse was walking through the jungle one day singing and dancing.
(Bit 1)
It came upon something in the path and wondered what it was.
(Bit 2)
It couldn’t figure it out, so it climbed up and over.
(Bit 1)
The mouse jumped down, turned around, and looked right into the face of a lion. The mouse froze in fear.
(Bit 3)
The lion roared.
(Bit 4).
The lion said, “Why don’t I eat you?” The mouse stopped to think.
(Bit 2)
The mouse said, “Lion, if you save my life, I will be your friend. Some day you might be in trouble and I could save your life.” The lion said, “Get out of here.” The mouse ran away singing and dancing.
(Bit 1)
A year passed. The Lion forget the mouse but the mouse never forgot making that promise. One day the mouse was coming down the same path singing and dancing.
(Bit 1)
It came upon something in the path and wondered what it was.
(Bit 2).
It couldn’t figure it out, so it climbed up and over.
(Bit 1)
It jumped down turned around and looked right into the face of a lion. The mouse froze in fear.
(Bit 3)
The lion didn’t roar.
“Didn’t you notice, mouse,” said the lion, “I’m trapped inside a net. The hunters are coming for me. Save yourself.”
It was then the mouse heard the hunter’s horns.
(Bit 5)
The animals began to stampede.
(Bit 6)
But the mouse did not run. He remembered his promise and he stood there and tried to figure it all out.
(Bit 2)
Now mice don’t have much going for them but they do have very sharp teeth. The mouse began nibbling on the net.
(Bit 2)
The net began to break.
(Bit 7)
The hunters grew closer.
(Bit 5)
The animals continued to stampede.
(Bit 6)
The mouse kept nibbling.
(Bit 2)
The net kept breaking.
(Bit 7)
Hunter’s horns
(Bit 5)
Stampeding
(Bit 6)
Nibbling
(Bit 2)
Net breaking
(Bit 7)
Finally the net began to break.
(Bit 7 over and over – lots of bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.)
The lion jumped up and joined the stampede.
(Bit 6)
Now mice have very little going for them. They have tiny legs. The mouse couldn’t keep up. The mouse said, “Lion, save yourself. I am a goner.”
The Lion stopped. He bent over the mouse with those great big teeth. The mouse froze in fear.
(Bit 3)
The lion picked the mouse up by the tail and flipped his head. It became like the Olympics. The mouse flew through the air. He did three somersaults
(Feel free to add in a gesture)
Three big twists
(Another gesture if you wish)
and landed right between the lions ears. The mouse screamed, “Run!” and they joined the stampede.
(Bit 6)
The hunter’s horns grew softer (Bit 5 but a little softly)
So, they ran a little more.
(Bit 6 but softly)
The hunter’s horns grew softer.
(Bit 5 - softer)
So they ran a little more.
(Bit 6 - softer)
Finally, you could barely hear the horns at all.
(A very, very soft Bit 7)
The animals stopped. The reason we told you this story? Some day you may get to Africa and if you do you you’re going to notice something strange. Most lions love to roar
(Bit 4)
but there’s now one lion who prefers to sing and dance.
(Bit 1)
Most mice still freeze in fear
(Bit 3)
but there’s now one mouse who roars proudly.
(Bit 4)
If you asked them why, they will say,
(The next line might be said by everyone in the cast.)
“Haven’t you heard out story yet? It’s the story of a friendship...
ALL: A friendship between a Lion and a Mouse.”
The Brementown Musicians:
A Puppet Show or A Group Story
Script Notes:
- The Process: I used the same story adaptation technique for developing this script. If you do it as a play or puppet show give the sounds to individual students. If you do this as a told story, everyone does each sound and movement.
- Casting: The real people in the play: the farmer and the robber, can be played by real sized people or puppets, maybe even an adult, maybe the principal.
- Gender: I used only male characters in this text because it was easier. Change the script, please, based on your cast.
- The Narrator: You can be the narrator or have a child do it. However, as the Narrator is holding the show together and as your puppeteers may forget their lines (although half the fun in listening to them whispering “back stage”), have the narrator read the tale from a big book (the script in disguise). This way, if there is trouble, the narrator can serve as a live prompter.
- Revision: The script in its current form, has the narrator more or less prompting every line with for example, “then the donkey said...” etc. If your children do not need to be prompted, these can be edited out.
- Scenery: The following play doesn’t require much scenery, maybe even just the cut out of a hay bale and the cut out of a house and maybe a sign directing us to Brementown.
- Costumes: If you do this as a play the characters can have “ears” attached to hat bands.
- Getting the audience into the act: The audience might be asked to make environmental sounds like birds singing or frogs on the lily pond. Beware! Adults can be shy. Moms will participate reluctantly. Dads will try to act like you can’t see them. It’s perfectly acceptable to lovingly shame them.
- Creating a Puppet Theatre: All you need for a puppet theatre are two straight backed chairs, a long flat board (maybe a book case shelf and a sheet. Roll the sheet long wise around the board a couple of times. Then lay the board between the seats on the back of the chairs. The sheet should hng down to the floor. Voila! An instant puppet play house.
The Brementown Musicians Script:
NARRATOR:
Scene 1: A farm
(The scene can be represented by a hay bale cutout. If you don’t have scenery, and you have a student who is good with words, have the audience close their eyes and let the person draw the scenes with words.)
NARRATOR:
Once Upon a time there was a donkey.
(The Donkey appears.) And a farmer...
(The farmer appears)
The farmer worked hard all day. He always said... Boy, there’s a lot of work to do.
(The Farmer repeats the line.)
FARMER:
Boy, there’s a lot of work to do.
NARRATOR:
The donkey hardly worked at all. He always said... I’m tired.
DONKEY:
I’m tired.
NARRATOR:
That’s because, late at night when the farmer was asleep, the donkey liked stand up in the barn and the donkey loved to sing.
(The Donkey hums and/or la la’s a little tune. It doesn’t the is as long as it is short and consistent.)
The Farmer said... You’re useless.
FARMER:
You’re useless.
NARRATOR:
Did the Donkey care? (The audience guesses) Nope. The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s OK. I’m going to go to Brementown and I’m going to become a famous singer. See you later!
NARRATOR:
Scene 2: The Road
(This can be depicted by just removing the hay bale.)
The donkey walked down the road
(He Does.)
And as he walked along he sang.
(Donkey hums or la la’s the same song)
He came upon a dog in the middle of the road.
(A dog appears) But the dog was crying.
(The dog cries.) The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
Why are you crying?
NARRATOR:
The Dog said...
DOG:
I’m old. I don’t like to go hunting. I like to sit by the fire and sleep. My master says I am useless.
NARRATOR:
The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s terrible.
NARRATOR:
Then the Donkey had an idea. He asked...
DONKEY:
Hey Dog, can you sing?
NARRATOR:
The dog had never sung before but thought he might like to try. (The dog hums or la la’s a different tune. It just has to be consistent, and short.)
The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s fabulous. Let’s go to Brementown. We can become famous singers.
NARRATOR:
Off down the road they went.
(They do.)
As they walked they practiced their singing. The donkey sang. (The Donkey sings.)
And the Dog sang.
(The Dog sings.)
They came upon a kitty cat in the middle of the road.
(A Kitty appears.)
But this kitty cat was crying.
(The cat cries.) The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
What’s wrong?
NARRATOR:
The Kitty said...
KITTY:
I’m old and I don’t like to hunt for myself. I like to sleep and my master I’m useless.
NARRATOR:
Said the Donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s Terrible.
NARRATOR:
Then the dog had an idea. The Dog said...
DOG:
Ask her if she can sing. Ask her if she can sing.
NARRATOR:
The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
Tell me Kitty can you sing?
NARRATOR:
The Kitty had never sung before but he thought he might like to try.
(The Kitty hums and la la’s a song) The donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s fabulous!
NARRATOR:
Then they both said...
DOG AND DONKEY:
Come with us we’re going to Brementown. We’re going to become famous singers.
NARRATOR:
And off down the road they went. As they walked...
(They do.)
They practiced. The donkey sang.
(He does) and the Dog sang.
(He does.) and the Kitty sang
(He does.)
They hadn’t traveled far when up in the road they saw an ancient old Rooster.
(The Rooster appears.) But this Rooster was crying.
(He is.)
NARRATOR:
The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
What’s wrong?
NARRATOR:
The Rooster said...
ROOSTER:
I’m old and I don’t like to get up early and say cock-doodle-doo and be an alarm clock. I like to sleep in. My master said I was useless.
NARRATOR:
They all said...
DOG, DONKEY AND KITTY:
Oh, that’s Terrible!
NARRATOR:
Then they all had an idea. They said....
DOG, DONKEY AND KITTY:
Tell me Rooster. Can you siiiiiiiiiiing?
NARRATOR:
The rooster had never sung before but it wanted to try.
(The rooster sings.) They all said...
DOG, DONKEY AND KITTY:
That’s fabulous! Come with us we’re going to Brementown. We’re going to become famous singers. And off down the road they went and as they walked...
(They do.)
They practiced. The Donkey sang.
(He does.) And the Dog.
(He does) The Cat
(He does) And the Rooster
(He does.)
They hadn’t gone far when it started to get dark. The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
We’d better find a place to sleep. Hey, up on that hill there’s a cabin. I bet you if we went up there and sang a concert, I bet you they’d put us up for night. Let’s go.
NARRATOR:
Scene Three: A Cabin on a hill. (This can be depicted by a house cut out with a high window. The puppets can look through the window.)
When they got up to the house, they all tried to look in the window. (They do.)
But the window was very high. (It is.)
Only the Donkey could see inside. The other animals said...
DOG, KITTY AND ROOSTER:
What do you see? What do you see?
NARRATOR:
The Donkey said...
DONKEY:
I see a fellow in there.
(We see him, too. The robber might be a “real” person in a mask standing in front of the puppet theatre.
NARRATOR:
Then the Donkey said...
DONKEY:
That’s strange. He’s wearing a mask.
NARRATOR:
And he was because...
ROBBER
Excuse me. I can tell them myself, you know. (To the audience) I am a robber hiding out from people so no one will know where I am. I wear a mask because I am in disguise. Thank you.
NARRATOR:
But the animals didn’t hear him say this and the Donkey said...
DONKEY:
Hey, climb on board. We’ll give him a concert.
NARRATOR:
So the Dog climbed onto the Donkey.
(He does.)
And the Kitty climbed onto the Dog.
(He does.)
And the Rooster climbed on top of the Kitty.
(He does.)
And when they were standing one on top of another they all began to sing. The Donkey sang.
(He does. Once they’ve started singing, they sing their bits over and over.)
The Dog joined in. (He does.)
Then Kitty.
(He does.)
Then the Rooster. (He does.)
And they got louder. (They do.)
and louder... (They do.)
And even louder...
(They get really loud)
And then they stopped. (They do.)
The Robber said...
ROBBER:
What could be making all that noise? I’d better look out the window.
(He does.)
NARRATOR:
But it was so dark that all the Robber could see were eyes. The two eyes of the Donkey...
ROBBER:
I see two eyes.
NARRATOR:
And the two eyes of the dog...
ROBBER:
Two eyes and two eyes. That makes….. (Thinking, maybe the audience helps.) four eyes.
NARRATOR:
And the two eyes of the Kitty...
ROBBER:
Four eyes and two more eyes that makes….six eyes.
NARRATOR:
And the two eyes of the Rooster...
ROBBER:
Six plus two makes... that makes..... That makes...
(The audience may help)
That’s right. Eight. Eight eyes looking in the window at me.
(The Robber loses it a little.)
Oh no, it’s a monster. Get me out of here.
NARRATOR:
The Robber ran away.
(He does.)
The good news? The robber gave up his life of crime.
ROBBER:
I did.
NARRATOR
The bad news? The poor animals – their first concert and the only person in the audience ran away screaming. They were not pleased.
ANIMALS:
We aren’t.
NARRATOR
But they spent the night and had a sleepover. In the morning, they went down to the road. (The house disappears) They looked down were they were going.
(They do.)
They looked back to where they’d been.
(They do.)
and the Donkey said...
DONKEY:
I like it here best of all. Couldn’t we just stay?
NARRATOR:
So they did. And whenever they have time, they sing.
(They do.) And we all lived...
ANIMALS:
(Singing in terrible harmony) Happily... Ever... After!
Good Luck and Have Fun! If you have a question, feel free to email me - [email protected].
Contact Info:
Tom McCabe, PaintBox Theatre, 4 Old South Street, Northampton, MA 01060
413-210-1898,
web: TomMcCabe.Com,
email: [email protected]
Introducing PaintBox Theatre – My Home Base
Based in Northampton, MA, PaintBox is a theatre of imagination and improvisation for all ages. For the last fifteen years we have offered educational, exciting and inter-active entertainment for no more than what it costs to go to the movie. (Our concessions are much cheaper.)
We take traditional stories and well-known picture books and bring them to life. When working with traditional stories we devote a lot of energy to re-shaping the story to make sure it is fair. This leads to somewhat radical adaptations. Each show features 3 actors, the audience and a percussionist.
Gentle Warning:
The audience is always part of the show. We draft people to play speaking roles while the whole audience serves as the narrator and joins into the action. You have been warned. If you refuse to participate, cast members stop the play, come out into the audience and feature you doing a solo.
We have a large screen hanging over the stage. As a way to encourage reading, throughout the show we project messages onto the screen. If the message is in yellow, the whole audience has to read the words out loud. If the message is in red, the whole audience has to do as instructed.
Much of the show is improv’d. How much? It’s impossible to tell.
Why are we called PaintBox?
Instead of creating extensive scenery we ask audience members to paint pictures. Through our mailing list we send out a list of locales, characters and props. Then throughout the show, instead of scenery we project the images above the stage. Our artists range from 3 to 11 years old. The art is amazing. We also have an art gallery in our lobby where we display the originals. Children have an option to write about their process and we display the writing. Audience artists have been known to linger by their art and with a little encouragement they’ll share with you some background on their creative process.
We do three productions each summer for families and camp groups. During the school year we offer performances for schools and families at The Eric Carle Museum and the Shea Theatre in Turners Falls. Each Dec. we do The Santa Show – A holiday Celebration for the Whole Family. On the second Saturday in July we transform the city of Easthampton into a tropical isle and celebrate Pirate Day. Why? Because you know that deep down inside, everybody wants to be a pirate.
PaintBoxTheatre.org
